Sex hormones are potent neuromodulators of learning and memory. Yet, how these tiny molecules shape the structural and functional architecture of the human brain is virtually unknown. Dr. Jacobs walks us through her study, The Maternal Brain Project, which maps the profound structural, functional, and hormonal changes that occur in the human brain during gestation, childbirth, and the transition to parenthood (matrescence). Using longitudinal precision neuroimaging, the project tracks participants from pre-conception through the postpartum period. A powerful promise of what’s possible when we properly examine the female body. 

Speaker

Dr. Emily Jacobs, Professor of Neuroscience at UC Santa Barbara and Director of Ann S. Bowers Women’s Brain Health Initiative